July Retail Trends and Highlights from the UAE

New shopping festival for tech, drone deliveries, Dubai mall gift card launch and BNPL for Apple. The Middle East retail sector has been seen plenty of innovation and development of the past few months and in the run up to Channel Summit META 2026, we'll be sharing some monthly highlights from the consumer tech retail industry along with useful insights into customer shopping trends and AI's impact on the industry.

New Electronics Festival Announced

Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism has just announced a ten day electronics shopping festival. Earmarked for April 2027, the festival will spotlight the electronics category together with the region’s tech retailers and organise a series of competitions, incentives, live experiences and more to boost tourism and mall footfall.

AI Influencing Shoppers

The annual ‘Stay Secure’ study published by Visa and conducted by Wakefield Research, reveals that 85% shoppers surveyed used AI tools to assist with shopping, including checking reviews or product ratings (60%), comparing prices (59%), and for gift ideas (55%).

UAE leads AI adoption

According to Microsoft’s AI Diffusion Report for Q1 2026, The UAE leads the world in AI adoption with a usage rate of 70.1% amongst the working age population. Up 6.1% on the previous quarter, the report’s findings clearly demonstrate the region’s enthusiasm for smart technologies and investment in digital transformation.

Yango Market Success

Dubai based vendor Yango has topped the Amazon UAE charts with its Arabic-first AI assistant and smart speaker, Yasmina. Buoyed by its online success and retail partnerships with the likes of Carrefour, Sharaf DG and Virgin Megastore, Yango has announced expansion plans into the GCC, Jordan and Egypt.

Walk to Win

Dubai’s malls continue to innovate and find new ways to attract and engage customers. Recent examples include Ibn Battuta Mall with the Walk to Unlock campaign launched on 5th June. For a limited time, shoppers can unlock discounts and incentives once they hit a number of steps taken in the mall. The campaign coincides with the city wide Dubai Mallathon initiative which encourages residents to move and take part in a series of walks, runs and races. The Dubai Mallathon runs until 15th September.

Gift Card Launch

In other news, Dubai Retail has launched a city wide gift card covering 40 malls and 5000 stores. The card is designed to give residents and visitors greater flexibility in how they shop and dine across the city. The card also unlocks a number of incentives and discounts at participating stores, venues and outlets, and is valid for 12 months from the date of purchase.

BNPL Gains

Buy Now Pay Later provider Tabby Card has added the Apple Store to its retail partner network. Customers can now access flexible payment plans for Apple products both in-store and online. Tabby now has in excess of 1 million active users across the UAE.

Meanwhile Tamara, another key BNPL provider for the region has reported a 210% rise in revenue for Q1 2026. The revenue boost has been driven largely by its new Islamic financing product but its merchant network reported a strong performance with 135% increase in revenue, and its gross consumer loan book grew by 33%.

Samsung Repair Launch

Speedy delivery is one thing but how about speedy repair? Samsung has launched a new rapid repair service called Samsung Care+. The new initiative provides UAE based Galaxy users with access to ‘anytime’ repair covering issues such as cracked screens, battery swaps and back cover replacement. The service claims to have the device repaired and returned to the customer within 72 hours.

“With Samsung Care+ Now, we are introducing a new repair option that complements our existing care and protection offerings, enabling eligible Galaxy users in the UAE to access selected repair services when they need them, supported by professional service quality and the convenience of pickup, delivery, or a visit to one of our service centres.” Kiran Tewari, Director of Customer Service, Samsung Gulf Electronics.

Last Mile Delivery by Drone?

In May, Sobha Realty penned an MoU with low altitude delivery company Keeta Drones to trial a drone delivery network across a select number of its residential sites. Sobha’s flagship residence, Sobha Hartland, is home to some 11,000 residents. Today, Keeta is delivering medical supplies and food, however their homepage mentions ‘e-commerce coming soon’ so could residents be able to order new tech accessories and devices? One to watch….

Pic credit: Denys Gromov